Funny thing was, Shildt says he received an email with the news literally just as he and the coaching staff finished a long, detailed meeting where they agreed on "incremental improvement with every player that we had." Those players included catcher Carson Kelly and pitcher Luke Weaver, who by the end of that meeting were officially members of a different organization.

But thus is baseball.

And Shildt talked about the improvements Goldschmidt will bring to this club.

"Obviously offensively he's been an elite performer for a period of time, but we look at the defense and what that looks like," Shildt says. "It's gonna make everybody better and he's a good base runner ... This is a strong, high character guy with exemplary work etihic, dedication to the craft and a real strong desire to win a championship. So he's going to fit right into St. Louis."

You can listen to the full interview with the manager, as well as the entire first episode of Cardinals Countdown to Opening Day below: